A Lewis Hamilton gallery

Lewis Hamilton entered Formula One in 2007, which huge expectations, famously having approached the then McLaren team principle Ron Dennis at the age of ten at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, “I want to race for you one day … I want to race for McLaren.” By the time he arrived in Formula One, he had already won the British Formula Renault, Formula Three Euroseries, and GP2 championships.

In his first year in Formula One, he narrowly missed out in the World Drivers’ Championship, losing by one point to Kimi Raikkonen, before winning in dramatic fashion during the last lap of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. In 2010, Jenson Button joined Lewis at McLaren, making an all-British driver line up, and the team became remarkably popular among British fans. The years from 2009 to 2012 saw Lewis finishing 5th, 4th, 5th and 4th in the World Championship, and as the relationship with McLaren seemed to be more stretched in 2012, Lewis announced a move to Mercedes, where he currently partners Nico Rosberg.

There was much debate about whether the move to Mercedes was a good decision or not in advance of the season, although Mercedes find of form during the season and McLaren’s lack of success showed that Lewis seemed to have made a good decision. He scored a single win in the 2013 season, at Hungary, and stayed with the team for the 2014 season. That has been, however, a much more successful year for Lewis. Mercedes enjoyed having a significantly superior car to their rivals, and Hamilton and Rosberg turned this in to a number of pole positions and wins. The season started with Lewis on pole and Nico winning in Australia, and racing was close between them in the early part of the season. Nico seemed to have the advantage in the mid season, before Lewis sprinted ahead to a championship victory in Abu Dhabi, and in what became a reversal of their fates in Australia, Nico ended up with pole eleven times out of the nineteen races, with Lewis finishing with eleven wins. This season sets up a series of records for Lewis; as the British driver with the most number of Formula One wins, as only the fourth British driver to win multiple F1 World Driver Championships, and only the second Englishman to accomplish that feat.

2015 saw Lewis stay at Mercedes alongside Nico, and after his impressive 2014 season, 2015 was just as impressive, seeing him taking his third World Drivers’ Championship. The two remained team mates through 2016, although it was a more frustrating season for Lewis, with a series of technical issues, and the end of the year saw Nico being crowned World Champion. With the unexpected retirement of the world champion, Lewis is partnered with Valtteri Bottas for 2017.